Adopt a United Hatzalah Medic

David Ben Ari

Responder Level: Doctor

City: Jerusalem

About David Ben Ari

David is an anesthesiologist for the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and lives with his wife and 3 children in Jerusalem. Despite his long hospital shifts, his frequent periods of army reserve duty and his family responsibilities, this incredible individual somehow finds the time (and energy) to respond to emergency calls as a United Hatzalah volunteer. As a doctor working with trauma patients on a daily basis, he knows how extremely vital is the treatment that patients receive in the first few minutes after the trauma occurred. In his own words, “Immediate treatment in the field can drastically improve the prognosis of almost any patient. I therefore felt that I too wanted to be part of an organization that can be the most effective in helping trauma patients, due to their amazingly fast response time.”

One example of how David’s joining United Hatzalah saves lives, occurred when he was on his way home from the hospital and received an alert about a serious car accident nearby. Already on his ambucycle, David flipped on his lights and sirens and sped to the location, weaving in out of the heavy traffic. He was the first medical responder on scene and he found a 40 year-old woman who had been hit by a car that had been traveling at high speed. She was lying on the ground, semi-conscious, with a serious head injury and difficulty breathing. David expertly intubated her, administered high flow oxygen, staunched her bleeding and bandaged her head wound. Working alone, he treated the woman until the ambulance arrived ten minutes later. By that time, she was stable and ready for transport. The initial treatment that David had provided saved this women’s life!

David also appreciates the great significance of medical responder’s manner of treating the patients, in additional to the actual treatment provided. As he explains, “For an ill or injured patient, just being there for them is half the battle. We are not there to just treat, but to give hope, to make them feel someone is taking good care of them. Patients won’t recall exactly what treatment you gave them or the exact words that you said, but they will remember forever how you made them feel.”